Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I will not buy store brand tuna fish. I have no idea what kind of fish it really is but it's brown and smelly.

I will not buy store brand mayo. It breaks down if used for cooking (and not just tuna salad - using NAME BRAND tuna!). It's Hellmann's/Best Foods or nothing.

My "oh, you're one of THEM" designation now involves anyone who uses store bought cake mixes, tube dough and boxed mac & cheese.

i feel this way about boxed mashed potato mixes, (i.e. "potato buds"), spray butter, canned whipped cream, and ketchup that is not heinz. according to my mother, these items are NEVER allowed in her kitchen.

I tend to sneer and think poorly of people when they order meat well done.

As for soda pop, I still prefer Coke over Pepsi any day of the week and will fight you if you disagree. Just kidding, but I will pray for your soul. ;)

@therealchiffonade: My CATS will not eat store brand tuna. Seriously. It's Chicken of the Sea or nothing. It's not like we spoil them or anything.

And I'm with gastronomeg on the meat well done thing. Reminds me of a time when I went to a steakhouse with my ex-husband and ex-FIL. I ordered my steak medium-rare and they ordered theirs well done (one of many contributing factors to them being in the ex category). When our food arrived, my FIL thought he had been cheated because his steak was so much smaller than mine.

Hamburger Helper....ick!

@gastronomeg (great name!) and all other Well Done Snubbers - Hear, hear!! That should have gone on my list too.

And I know someone who will put ketchup on steak. I can't even use youthfulness as an excuse - he's 55 years old!

I sortof hate MiracleWhip. Why won't they just call it mayonnaise?! I also sortof judge people who drink white zinfandel. I know it's unfair. I can't help it.

I refuse to cook a steak well done for anyone! The most I will go is medium and I serve it to them. Interesting that no one ever asks me to put it back on the grill.

No A-1. Totally sacrilegious!
Only Hellman's, Heinz, Coca Cola (never Pepsi), Skippy, Land o Lakes butter.

I would never consider buying the store or "generic" brand of anything. This is the way I grew up and I guess old habits can't be broken!

well along with some of my other posters, i will always take coke over pepsi. my boyfriend ironically is the opposite.

my other food prejudice has to do with my mom being all about home made. i still feel sorry for people who have never had pancakes that weren't made from bisquick. my dad would always take the first dark batch, while we kids waited patiently for the lighter ones that came off the griddle as the pan settled. light, fluffy, and delicious. i want breakfast for dinner now...

Lots of candies are weird, but nothing is weirder than licorice, unless it's those red vine things that are also sold as licorice whips but have no licorice taste whatsoever.

Canned vegetables were non-existent in my family - only frozen, except for carrots, potatoes, and onions. And white bread was also banned, exceptional for the 50's and 60's, although we needed it for French toast. When I would make it, the entire large loaf would be gone, and being on a budget, probably the reason Mom didn't buy it too often.

@Scienceandthecity: I forgot about white zin! It's one step above Boones Farms "wine" in my book. Like alcoholic fruit punch. Blech. Puts folks in my "oh, you're one of THEM" column.

I can remember going to a friend's house for dinner and the mom pulled out a can of green beans for our dinner veg, and it was one of those half-size cans...and I was thinking that it wasn't enough for one person, much less four of them and one of me. When the salad came out, I was equally stunned. Again, it wouldn't have been enough for me and my dad at my house (mom didn't eat dinner with us) but this was supposed to feed two adults and three kids. I was very, very careful when the food was passed to me that I didn't take too much because I knew if I ate my usual portion of veggies or salad that no one else would be eating any. I think that was my first experience learning that not everyone ate like we did.

I WILL NOT eat round meat (i.e. bologna, olive loaf, liverwurst, etc.) I've never seen a round animal, and until there's a pressed ham with feet grazing in some pasture, I'll stick to grilled chicken or roast beef on my sandwich.

oh, my gosh, i'm such a terrible snob i spend half my day suppressing my snide little thoughts about other peoples' eating habits. but the thing that sprang to mind while reading the replies was my feelings about bottled salad dressing. i used to have a regular lunch date at the home of a friend who was a pretty good cook, but if there was salad on the table, there would also be an artfully arranged grouping of half a dozen bottles of HFCS and glycerin bleu cheese and balsamic vinaigrette. eeew!

come on, people, if you can't take thirty seconds to mix it in the kitchen, at least put out a bottle of olive oil and another of halfway decent vinegar, or even a quarter of a lemon, and we'll all be better off.

@cybercita i'm with you.... bottled dressings, ugh. nice olive oil straight up or with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of coarse salt.... the best part is after you eat the salad you pick the bowl up and drink the rest of the dressing (maybe not in front of people i don't know to well....)

Wow. This topic makes me laugh.

I didn't grow up with PB&J. I never tried PB until I was an adult and I still agree with my ex's Dutch grandmother who always said, "Why would you eat that? That's what we feed to the pigs in Holland."

When I was growing up, we were a French's Yellow mustard and Best Foods mayo family, so I was very alarmed the first time I saw someone put dijon mustard on a sandwich. Yuck. Do you really eat that brown stuff that looks like baby poo?

"Oh, you're Those People?" foods include: Those tubes of foamy goo that supposedly turn into cinnamon rolls. Cheap potato chips. Generic sodas. Individually plastic-wrapped slices of cheese product.

@Nosillak, who said: I WILL NOT eat round meat (i.e. bologna, olive loaf, liverwurst, etc.) I've never seen a round animal, and until there's a pressed ham with feet grazing in some pasture, I'll stick to grilled chicken or roast beef on my sandwich.

@Nosillak, who also wrote: http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2008/08/eating-in-nyc-with-10-and-11-year-old-boys.html

So, are hot dogs "round meat"? Are they just okay for kids? And what animal comes in "breast" shapes or, dare I say, "thin slices"?

Just checking.

My family was always a Miracle Whip family, but I think it has something to do with my dad hating homemade mayo, which was all he got on the farm. We're also a Jif family, and that continues still today. Most of these come from my grandparents. Once my Grandmother got off the farm, she bought Miracle Whip too. Oddly enough, my family's all over on the peanut butter spectrum, representing everything from the brands, to generic, to all-natural, along with those odd blended peanut butters.

But my mum and dad went through a six month period where they tested (and subsequently ate) every different kind of peanut butter they could get their hands on.

And it ended with smooth Jif. Which is awesome.

Also, Pepsi is really terrible, I adore Coke.

skippy is the only way for me...i never knew any better growing up, we just had generic but ...yum! and grape jelly grosses me out i just hate it! blackberry or strawberry only. heinz has to be the best ketchup ever, sadly we bought some "del monte" red water and i just can't believe the difference.

@buffy, agreed on Boone's Farm. It's like drinking Zima. The Hi-C of alcohol.

@franklindelanobluth, that's hilarious. Talk about issues. That rules out a ton of white-ish foods..

He's fine eating things that look like other bodily functions, though? It's just sperm-ish things that freak him out?

Love the topic :) Makes me feel like I am not alone.

~A1 is one, if not the worst condiment out there. What is it really? I felt like I was eating copper when I tried it. Awful.
~Scrapple is the worst breakfast food.
~White Zinfindel. Had a sip this weekend and couldn't believe how much I disliked it. Don't know how my girl drinks that stuff. I feel bad for her-I want her to try other wines, but she won't.
~Plastic wrapped "cheese"-this is really not cheese. Take the time to stand in a deli line please.
~Miracle Whip. No thanks.
~Sliced Lunchmeat should come from the deli. Not some box in the dairy.
~Liquid Eggs? No thanks. I can crack a few eggs and separate the yolk.
~Tube Cookies. Seriously??? No. It's not hard to mix a few ingredients together-and you get more!
~Frozen Shrimp? I pass. I'll go to the Seafood counter/place and get it. To me, I can taste a difference.
~Can't do Wendy's. Something about a square burger freaks me out.
~Boxed Potato anything. Not even close-don't try to tell me otherwise.
~Can't do the store brand stuff. Can't think of anything store brand I've bought.
~Oil packed Tuna. can't do it. I have pictures of oil just oozing everywhere. I'll take water.
~A dinner that is originally made in a microwave. That's not making dinner. Ugh. Then again, I'm just spoiled by my mom's homemade cooking.
~Frozen Meatballs. I want to weep and then commit murder when someone tries to serve them (my Italian comes out of me). It's like I'm being stabbed in the heart. Please, make your own. It's not hard.

My biggest snobbish prejudice is canned tuna. Must be Bumble Bee, the caviar of the tuna world. Not even Star Kist can compete.
Must be Coke, not Pepsi.
Must be Diet Pepsi, not Diet Coke.
Must be Luzianne tea bags for iced tea.
Helmann's mayo, NO Miracle Whip (the only miracle here is that it's still on the shelves. I don't know anyone who'll touch the stuff except my Mom).
No convenience jarred products like minced garlic or onion.
Peter Pan peanut butter
Nestle chocolate bars, not Hershey (Hershey's are too waxy)
Stouffer's mac'n cheese (with Frank's Red Hot Sauce), not boxed.
No alcoholic beverage that comes in a six or four-pack (other than beer).
The only canned tomato product I will use in my kitchen is San Marzano. Maybe it's in my head, but I swear I can taste the difference.

Finally, I will eat only one "square" meat: Eckrich Jalapeno Loaf (I hear the groans of disgust, but it's an addiction!) Is there a 12 step program for closet mystery deli-meat eaters such as myself?)

@Josdean: totally agree about the Hershey's. I don't understand why it's the most popular brand of chocolate--I can't stand the stuff. Waxy and grainy and just plain nasty. It's Dove or Ghirardelli's for me.

I won't ever order filet mignon. Rib eye, porterhouse or strip steak, and of course, no more than medium rare. I would never serve or cook any steak that was cooked beyond medium rare!

Tuna - seared. I was with someone at a steakhouse who ordered a blue fin tuna steak and he ordered it cooked medium. I couldn't help myself and leaned over told him in no uncertain terms that a tuna steak cooked "medium" would be overdone. I still shudder over the memory of medium cooked tuna.

Salad dressing -yup, homemade. Preservatives, sugar and emulsifiers in the storebought kind - gross, no thanks.

Finally, not exactly a food prejudice, but unless it's a restaurant that is known for one awesome dish, it drives me nuts when people in a small party order two of the same dish. The worst is when it's on a date! What? you can't share? Try a different entree or appetizer, go ahead! Explore the menu!

I hate to hog my own thread, but I just realized a lingering one, from fatitallianbroad (great name btw!)--fast food pizza and worst of all THE OLIVE GARDEN.

To understand this, please realize that I live in a an area populated by many, many local Italian-American places. But these Platonic pizzas and perfectly prepared regional Northern and Southern Italian specialties are eschewed even by my own Mediterranean Greek family for the breadsticks and the "beeger portions" and the Awful Garden.

As a kid, I also remember being prejudiced against kids who always went for the same flavor of Pop Tart--usually strawberry. I was so adventurous, always going for Blueberry or what was then new stuff like chocolate. And I thought Pringles were evil compared to real chips :p

Now I am also sort of prejudiced against people who tend to eat lots of 'fake' diet products, like Weight Watchers desserts, especially if they lecture me about eating carbohydrates like bread and fruit. Those tiny desserts usually have as many calories as the real things only 'less fat' Another :p

Pringles are not interchangeable with potato chips.Cool Whip is not interchangeable with whipped cream. Coffee "lighteners" are not interchangeable with cream, or milk. Miracle Whip is not interchangeable with mayonnaise. I don't understand, but can respect people who really like the faux products. What astounds me are people who cannot tell, or don't mind, the difference.

Growing up my mom always looked down on store bought cookies and would never in a million years think of buying them. Secretly, I thought they were delicious. As a child I used to fantasize about being old enough to be on my own so I could buy them. Now, of course, I know better, but if I am having a terrible chocolate chip craving, I will still succumb to a blue Chips Ahoy bag. I know its wrong!

I feel redundant but I have to jump on the anti- White Zin, well done meat, Miracle Whip, bottled dressings band wagon. But then again I have an occassional craving for Kraft mac and cheese and even that nasty Chef Boyardee ravioli, so I am no one to judge and I don't think that my tastes are any better than another persons, thus people are spared any lecture from me, but I will insist they try each others food, You never know who you can convert.
I didn't grow up eating junk food so I never have that big of an urge for it but I was always amazed by my friends families who bought bags of name brand cookies, since the cookies were so small. We had a family of five so it was generic everything and big bags of it too.

On that same note: My sister insists tuna is cat food and wont go near the stuff.

I grew up in a no cook house my mom hardly ever cooked we had pizza in a restaurant at LEAST 3 times a week. When we had company my mom would cook,she makes a killer pasta sauce. Now she is still the queen of processed food and ADORES frozen meatballs- she uses them in everything. I cook almost everything organic and natural but my kids love mac in cheese from a box so it is hard to be a food snob as i never grew up with the yummy food so many of you had. I try to try at least one new item a month (this month is lemon grass) but I never have a "one of those people" thought as I am that person.

Although I love diet coke more then diet pepsi.

That's odd, it seems like almost all of the people on here are Coke people. Coke is for refined people, Pepsi is for not so refined people?

as a child in the 80's my mom filled my brown paper sack with pomegranut seeds, homemade pita pockets with sprouts and roast turkey, amazing things that, until recently i thought was normal.. No fast food ever in my existance as a child, except for braums.. but.. its more of a dairy store.